Audience comments on “Jose and Maria” in Ohio

I had an unexpected treat recently: An audience member who had seen my Christmas play JOSE AND MARIA in Youngstown, Ohio and shared some of her happy feedback.

“It was heartbreaking,” she told me. She later said she meant that in a good way. “Well, the whole immigrant scenario was heartbreaking. Their fear, their youth. Their poverty and especially their vulnerability . . . I was crying through most of the show.”

And also:

“It absolutely is a compliment that I found it heartbreaking. I have 25+ years in social services as a clinical counselor incl time at a children’s psych hospital and supervising programs for foster children. So, I am somewhat jaded. However, this gripped me . . . The ending, telling us to concentrate on our community and doing what is right and good in an individual way was sooo good. I have heard it before, but really needed to hear it at the end of the play. . . People must be carefully guided to open their hearts to new ideas. And I think your scripts do that.”

Dwayne Yancey is a playwright from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. He’s had scripts produced throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other locations abroad. For more on his work, contact him directly at dwayneyancey@gmail.com.